I can't decide whether to love or hate the way that Dave's life goes on in the background of his cases. I love it, in that his sexuality and his family and his friends are all just a part of it, like he carries that everywhere he goes -- like real people do -- but I hate it, for the way that it means that those stories that I care about because I care about him are just background.

Anyway, I do love the Brandstetter books, but I don't think this one is my favourite. I suppose in some ways the set up was all there, and I could have figured things out, but I found it a bit confusing. There was a lot going on, and a lot of potential suspects, some of whom weren't returned to. Sometimes it's a little implausible how deeply Dave gets involved in things he doesn't really need to do.

I'm pretty used to the writing now: that or it's tightened up. A bit of both, perhaps. It doesn't bother me anymore if he does over-describe still. ( )

Skinflick, the fifth of the Dave Brandstetter mysteries, involves the murder of Gerald Dawson, a church goer with a reputation for zero tolerance of all that he believes wrong. Imprisoned is the accused, the affable owner of a pornshop recently ransacked by Dawson and his cronies. However Dave thinks that the victim’s family maybe involved. The cast of characters includes Dawson’s business partner who has a penchant for young boys and girls; a maker of films of dubious reputation who has a liking for boys as girls; and a young TV who takes a liking to Dave.

One of the charms of these mysteries is the ongoing story of Dave’s personal life (so don’t read the rest of this paragraph if you haven’t read the previous stories and don’t want anything revealed) Following the death of his father and chairman of Medallion, the insurance company he worked for, Dave is now freelancing, and he soon finds himself enlisting the help of another recently unemployed claims investigator, Delgado. He also finds himself coming up with a way of helping his widowed and very young step-mother come to terms with her loss at the same time as moving into his new home, having finally parted with Doug.

Events climaxes with an even greater life and death situation than perhaps the previous stories, but the rest is filled with the detailed observation with which we are familiar. ( )